Moto 360 review: Even the best smartwatch isn't good enough yet

The Moto 360 might be the best smartwatch around right now, but that really isn't saying much, at least not yet. Photo: Patrick O'Rourke/Postmedia

Patrick O'Rourke

Published: October 29, 2014 - 4:34 PM

Updated: October 30, 2014 - 6:09 PM

I’m still not sold on the idea of a smartwatch and my time with the Moto 360 over the last few weeks reaffirms my belief that they aren’t useful enough yet to appeal to most consumers.

They’re cool, often sleek looking gadgets, but ultimately aren’t ready for the average person’s wrist, partly due to Android Wear still suffering from a few issues.

But if you already know you want a smartwatch and are dying to purchase one, the Moto 360 is likely the device you’ve been waiting for. Other than the affordable e-ink Pebble, it’s the best smartwatch around, especially when it comes to features.

Sleek, attractive and actually wearable

The Moto 360 is the first smartwatch I actually want to wear. Patrick O’Rourke/Postmedia

The Moto 360 is the first smartwatch I’d actually want to wear thanks to its unique circular screen, cool looking body and relatively light weight. Unlike other Android smartwatches like the LG G and Samsung Gear Live, the Moto 360 resembles a traditional watch. When it comes to wearable technology it makes sense that fashion should be just as important as how a device functions.

After all, the idea behind wearable tech is you actually have to wear it. So why shouldn’t a smartwatch actually look attractive instead of resemble an ugly LCD calculator strapped to your wrist?

Right now the Moto 360 only comes with a leather strap in either black, dark gray or light gray. While colour options might be limited, the watch’s strap is extremely comfortable because it’s made of soft leather, unlike other smartwatches on the market that typically feature stiff plastic straps. Motorola has plans to release a steel strap at some point in 2015 for those who want a more high-end feel to their watch.

While the Moto 360 isn’t overly large, if you have a small wrist like me it will likely feel a little too big. It would have been great if Motorola offered a smaller build option, similar to how Apple plans to sell two sizes of the Apple Watch. Still, even with all this said, the Moto 360 is an attractive looking piece of technology.

Android Wear still suffers from issues

Unfortunately Android Wear still suffers from a number of issues. Patrick O’Rourke/Postmedia

Unfortunately the circular screen that makes the Moto 360 look so great is also one of the smartwatch’s biggest issues. Android Wear, Google’s smarwatch operating system that runs the phone, is designed for a rectangular screen. This means reading text on the Moto 360 is often less than ideal and it is frequently cut off. If the trend of circular smartwatches continues, and it likely will given the hype surrounding the Moto 360, Google needs to release a separate version of Android Wear focused on this smartwatch shape.

Google and Motorola reportedly worked closely together to ensure Android Wear looks great on the Moto 360 but unfortunately their efforts aren’t good enough.

The Moto 360’s 1.56-inch 320 x 290 resolution screen also doesn’t look particularly sharp, but it’s important to keep in mind it’s a smartwatch, not a smartphone. It gets the job done, looks bright, colourful and it’s not as if you’ll be watching high-definition movies on the device.

“talking to your watch in public makes you look ridiculous”

Now onto what is perhaps my biggest issue with Motorola’s smartwatch. In order to save battery life the Moto 360’s always-on ambient screen option, a feature that makes the smartwatche’s screen never turn off, isn’t enabled by default.

Unfortunately this means glancing at the Moto 360 in order to see if you have an important text or email, is not possible. To make the screen light up you either need to tap it with your finger or move your arm upwards toward your face, a motion the watch doesn’t always correctly recognize. Also, exaggerating this motion, something I frequently ended up doing by accident because I was consciously aware of how finicky it is, makes the screen turn on even less frequently.

Enabling ambient screen mode destroys the Moto 360’s battery life, which lasts approximately an entire day with this mode turned off. I view the smartwatch as a device that gives you information immediately and at a glance. While the Moto 360 does do this to some extent, having its screen not turn on when it needs to is a big issue.

Notifications at a glance and on-the-go, sort of

The Moto 360’s screen turns off to save battery life. This means you don’t get to view notifications at a glance.

Beyond just telling the time, Android Wear transmits almost every notification you receive on your phone to your wrist. This means notifications like text messages, emails, Instagram notifications and Facebook messages, will all pop up on the Moto 360. Since I don’t need access to this much information on my wrist, I turned off most of these messages in the Android Wear app running on my Nexus 5. I ended up selecting Facebook messages, emails and text messages, as my three primary means of communication.

Scrolling through multiple notifications can be a pain and it often felt like the smartwatch didn’t always recognize my swipes. On the plus side, Motorola has created a number of unique faces for the watch, although none offer both digital and analog time face. They range from traditional analog watch faces to simple digital numbers.

The Moto 360 also has the ability to track your heart beats per minute and has a built in pedometer, allowing users to record how many steps you take in a day. Entering vital stats like height and weight allows the phone to divide your daily activity into three categories: inactive, active and vigorous.

While an interesting feature, I think the Moto 360 sometimes picks up my hand movements as steps. On a number of occasions I seemed to have taken many more steps than I possibly could have in a day.

The smartwatch is also compatible with a number of Google Voice commands that prompt navigation, send texts via your smartphone, take notes and perform a variety of other tasks. After my initial few days with the Moto 360, I tended to avoid this feature since talking to your watch in public makes you look ridiculous.

I mostly used the Moto 36o for time keeping and notifications, two things I feel smartwatches are actually useful for. Google Now also works great on the watch, giving users easy access to information like weather and commute times.

The Moto 360’s docking bay charges wirelessly via Qi magnetic induction and works great as a desktop clock. This means there are no plugs or cords needed to charge the Moto 360, adding to its sleek design.

Smartwatches aren’t ready for average users yet

Even the back of the Moto 360 looks great. Patrick O’Rourke/Postmedia

While the Moto 360 is the best smartwatch on the market right now, this really isn’t saying much. Android Wear still has a number of issues – for example accessing installed apps is far too difficult – and it will take a number of updates before Google’s smartwatch operating system has all of its kinks worked out.

It’s a new operating system and with each iteration it’s only going to get better, it just isn’t there yet.

At a hefty $279 price tag I expected much more. It’s important to point out that many third-party developed Android Wear apps fix some of the operating systems major issues, although this takes some tweaking and a considerable time commitment.

7/10

For the average person it’s best to wait out the smartwatch war right now, at least until Android Wear’s various issues are ironed out. It will also be interesting to see how the Apple Watch performs when it’s released next year.

But if you can’t wait, the Moto 360 is by far the best full-colour LCD smartwatch on the market.

If you can deal with a monochrome display, the Pebble is the top smartwatch around, especially when it comes to price.

The Moto 360 launches Oct. 31 in Canada and is available though Telus, BestBuy and Futureshop.